1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to the manufacture of seamless tubes formed from liquids material. In particular, the process may employ one or more doctor blades and associated fingers to apply a coating of the liquid material to the mandrel surface.
2. Description of Related Art
Various methods of coating liquid-like materials onto substrates are well known. These processes may include vertical dip or ring coating; spray coating; and injection molding. These methods may suffer from several disadvantages. Dip or ring coating may require that a large amount of coating solution be generated to coat the part. The part may be submerged into a vat of material and slowly removed. Therefore, excess material may be required and the yield may be quite low. Spray coating also may tend to have a low yield due to the material lost in the overspray. In addition, both dip/ring coating and spray coating may be limited in the material viscosity that can be successfully applied. Spray coating may require a relatively low viscosity in order for the material to be atomized in the spray gun. Dip/ring coating may require higher viscosities to prevent sag of the coating. Methods such as injection molding require sophisticated molds, high pressures and relatively high material viscosities to successfully produce a part.